Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies

Yes the above cookies do look like a little elf dropped a stylish bowel movement on them, however once they have been refrigerated, and the nutella gets cold, they enter into an amazing taste haven. The cookie itself aren’t all that sweet, they have a distinct coffee taste to them, to the close to bitter end. But once you add the nutella center, they are perfectly balanced.

Sadly they did not make my list for Christmas Cookies because of the messiness of the nutella. But they are super duper tasty.

Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter (or vegan margarine)

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup finely ground skilled toasted hazelnuts

1 tbsp instant coffee

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup Nutella

Instructions

In a bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy, stir in vanilla

Whisk together flour, hazelnuts, coffee and salt. Stir into butter mixture in 2 additions. Form into ball; knead 1 or 2 times until smooth.

Roll by heaping 1 tsp into balls.

Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheet, and using your pinky finger, smash each ball in the middle to create a deep well in each cookie.

Bake at 350 degrees until pale golden, 15-18 mins.

Once cooled, put nutella in piping bag, and pipe into wells in the cookies.

For best taste, refrigerate after piping, and consume once cookies are cold.

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So the sad part about this recipe, is that for those who cannot eat milk, Nutella has milk ingredients in it, so this is not a milk-free recipe. Speaking of which, still looking for a milk-free alternate… Anyways still tasty tiny cookies.